2014 News Releases

Cherokee County man sentenced to life in prison for child sex crimes

Release Date: Jun 02, 2014

COLUMBUS – (June 2, 2014) – A Cherokee County man was sentenced today to life in prison for six counts of child sex crimes, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said.

Stanley W. Pickering, 79, of Baxter Springs, was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for 50 years in the Kansas Department of Corrections by Judge Kurtis I. Loy. In April, Pickering pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated criminal sodomy, four counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child and one count of aggravated indecent solicitation of a child. Two of the counts were charged under provisions of Jessica’s Law.

All of the victims were under 14 years of age at the time of the offenses. The case came to light when one of the victims, now an adult, made a report to an agent of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation in November 2013. The investigation led authorities to additional victims of sexual abuse spanning 35 years.